17th January 2000 Archive

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Intel kicks out Rambus from Seven Dramurai™

The future will be Six Dramurai™

Intel, Micron, NEC, Samsung, Hyundai and Infineon said yesterday they will work to produce a high end form of memory that will see PC platforms right from 2003 onwards. But Rambus Ink, formerly Intel's closest memory partner, and intended to provide such a platform for the future, has not been invited to the memory platform. An …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 08:42
Intel takes axe to mobile PIII prices – 50% off

SpeedStep (Geyserville) announced tomorrow

As a prelude to its announcements of SpeedStep (nee Geyserville) mobile technology tomorrow, Intel has taken drastic action and reduced prices on its range of mobile Pentium III Coppermine and Celeron notebook chips. We will preview the SpeedStep-Geyserville technology announcements here later on today, but in the meantime here …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 09:44
Intel Geyserville due Tuesday

One small SpeedStep for Intel, one giant cheque if you want to buy

Back in July, in a rare accurate prediction, The Register's erstwhile seeress, Old Mother Chipton, predicted that Intel's Geyserville (aka Speedstep) mobile Pentium IIIs wouldn't arrive until Q1 2000 despite being billed for September '99 shipment. Tomorrow the little poppets are due to be born, initially in 633MHz guise and …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 10:05
TurboLinux completes $57m funding round

20 companies jostle to invest

TurboLinux bosses will today find themselves on the receiving end of cheques totalling $57 million, the result of the company's latest round of pre-IPO funding. The staggering statistic here is not the size of the investment, but the fact that it comes from a total of 20 companies, and you begin to wonder whether its got to the …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 10:57
Intel criticised over Q4 results

Analysts claim results affected by discretionary factors

A report from online financial wire TheStreet has suggested that Intel used "discretionary accounting" practices to produce outstanding Q4 financial results last week. According to financial analysts at both Merrill Lynch and SG Cowen, investment income generated during the quarter was higher than expected, while amortisation …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 12:06
Buy.com prepares assault on UK

The man from KFC takes the helm…

US online superstore Buy.com plans to challenge the likes of Dixons and Jungle.com by launching into the UK market. Buy.com, which sells books, videos and music as well as PC hardware and software, is ready to start a UK version of its Web site, according to today's Financial Times. The launch is being handled by venture …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 12:13
Cyber police force comes to Britain

Operation Trawler spreads its Net

In the fight against online crime, the Home Office has assigned £337,000 to the UK National Criminal Intelligence (NCIS) to help police the Internet. As the Net population expands, "Criminals will make ever more use of Internet communications to organise their illegal activities," says an NCIS report. Operation Trawler will …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 12:38
Coup de grace for lawnmower Web site

Any old Net nonsense is getting written about by serious journalists…

Cutting edge technology of a different kind has taken to the Internet in the guise of the Lawnmower Museum's Web site. With a collection of around 200 lawnmowers – one of which was donated by Prince Charles – the museum site has the tag-line "The British Lawnmower Museum – it's all you need to mow." And you thought The Register …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 13:19
Hacker gang suspected over Virgin bust, others

Scotland Yard links 12 incidents, one man questioned

Last week's Virgin hackers are believed to be part of a British gang trying to blackmail Visa for £10 million. The group is thought to have broken into the computer systems of at least 12 multinationals and stolen files. Scotland Yard is investigating the attacks, which last month culminated in Visa receiving a ransom demand …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 13:36
Eccentricity meets electricity on the Net

One of England's finest trumps train spotters with odd ball site

What have pylons, mobile phone base stations, insulators and the traffic cone preservation society got to do with the Internet? Answer - they're all linked to an eccentric Web site dedicated to the 'sadly unappreciated' electricity pylon for enthusiasts. The 'pylon of the month' site includes photographs, facts and figures about …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 13:42
One in four tax bills will be wrong

Online tax advisory warns of impending cock-up by Inland Revenue

Up to two million British taxpayers face paying the wrong tax bill thanks to Inland Revenue bungling. With less than two weeks left to submit Self Assessment tax returns for the 1998/99 tax year, the Inland Revenue still has three million forms outstanding. Civil servants will be rushed off their feet trying to cope with the …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 14:10
PC prices creep up in US

Will this trend cross the Atlantic?

Increases in component prices are pushing up PC prices in the US market. For the first time in nine years, in the last quarter of 1999, prices went up rather than down. This mimicked the behaviour of the DRAM market, where a lack of supply saw prices rocket. According to the research firm PC Data, the average price of a PC in …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 15:41
One hundred year old babies found in UK

And you thought Y2k bug stories were a thing of the past…

Doesn't time fly! British Millennium babies are now 100 years old after the Y2k bug struck computers at the National Office of Statistics. After all that campaigning by Action 2000 a government organisation gets hit by the bug. Poor show, chaps. Birth certificates issued by the Registry Office surprised parents with birth-dates …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 16:00
Recruitment firm woos contractors with share offer

Find work, get paid, buy cheap shares, kerrching…

Recruitment firm Spring IT Personnel announced today it will aim to attract contractors by offering 5,000 shares in Spring to professionals at a knock-down price. Applicants for the scheme must apply online before 9 February to take advantage of the offer price of 190p a share or the closing mid-market price on last dealing day …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 16:33
Ads watchdog snarls at HP, cocks leg at Dixons

More unacceptable adverts and unsustainable complaints

Dixons' sour grapes over Tiny's free PC offer were ignored by the ASA this month. The high street giant lashed out at Tiny, objecting to the "free PC" headline in an advert because of a £39.99 delivery charge. It also questioned whether the machine, sold without monitor, was suitable for use with a TV - claiming that flickering …

Business 17 Jan 2000, 16:46